GUEST OPINION: Don't get your computer fixed by people who have something to sell something

By BILL KALMAR

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Several weeks ago the Microsoft Word program on my laptop went kaput. I was unable to open any previous columns I had written and thus unable to write any new scintillating, informative columns for The Oakland Press that readers have become accustomed to. (OK, the laughing can stop now).

After numerous repeated attempts, I decided to call Microsoft for information and instructions. As is the norm, I was connected with "Michael" in India. After more than an hour on the phone, I was told that there were 337 errors or failures on my laptop which was affecting Microsoft Word. My Indian connection told me that for $200 he could remove the errors and thus restore the Word program. This would be a one-time fix but for an additional $100 I would have three years of a trained technician at my disposal to fix any new problems. I thanked Michael and said I would cogitate (I like that word) on his proposal.

After hanging up with Michael, I contacted HP, the maker of my laptop. This time, I was told there were a little more than 100 failures or errors on my laptop and, for $200, HP could restore my laptop to an error-free environment. Once again I thanked the representative and said I would take his information under advisement.

My next call was to AOL. After some diagnostics, I was told that my Microsoft Word program had expired and, for $60, I could receive a new program. What confused me was that the Word program was on the laptop when I made the purchase two years ago and there was no indication that the program would expire. While the price of $60 was enticing since the program usually retails for more than $100, I decided to forego the offer.

Since the laptop was purchased at Best Buy, the local store in my neighborhood received my next call. The representative instructed me to locate a 25 character number on the back of the laptop and enter that number to restore the Word program. That did not fix the problem, and I asked the rep to provide me with a new 25 character number. The rep indicated that I would have to travel to the local Best Buy store in my neighborhood to get that number from the Geek Squad. That was just another road block as far as I was concerned.

So after three hours of phone conversations, I was still unable to open my Word program and had four different solutions. It was then that a friend of our daughter, whose home we were staying at, arrived for a short visit. As it turns out the friend is an electronic/computer technician. He examined my laptop and in less than five minutes he applied a fix and restored the Word program.

Frankly, I don't know if the time I spent on the phone was a teachable moment alerting me to never believe or trust information and fixes from people whose sole function is to sell me a service I don't need. On the other hand, it made me realize that laptop novices such as myself are often at the mercy of uninformed, sometimes inexperienced charlatans whose goal is to scare me into submission and purchase a product that I neither need or want. Here is my teachable moment. I now have my daughter's friend on speed dial.

What about all those errors and failures that were detected by "Michael" and the HP rep? Somehow I think that anyone who contacts a help line discovers that their laptop or computer has similar problems. I'm just wondering how many are really mine or just some concocted by one of my phone friends to scare the daylights out of me. If I sound suspicious and distrustful, just chalk it up to three hours on the phone when I could have been spending some quality time with my grandchildren instead of conversing with people in foreign countries whose goal was to sell me more services instead of fixing the problem.